Apocalypse: Last Traveler

The car was moving very slowly. Lu Xi'an shifted to second gear, and only lightly pressed the accelerator.

The thick fog seemed to cling directly to the car windows, obscuring all visibility. The drone was already ineffective at this time; relying on the machine was now less reliable than trusting one's intuition.

At such times, even the naked eye wasn't of much use.

Luckily, Lu Xi'an and Yao Wei still had the mechanical dog.

"Gou, watch the road. Notify fifty meters in advance if there's a turn. Blink once for left, twice for right, and stay on if impassable."

Lu Xi'an gave directions to Gou.

The mechanical dog turned its head forward on the control panel, its eyes penetrating through the windshield, staring ahead.

Its pair of eyes could scan outside with penetrative ability, which was effortless for it.

Thus, they continued driving forward. The car seemed to be gradually moving forward by clearing the mist bit by bit. The road descended, and the towering cliffs at the sides began to rise gradually. It seemed they had entered a canyon all the way.

Yao Wei opened the map, looked at it, and said to Lu Xi'an, "Beyond the mountains ahead is Liangcheng Wetland Park, which connects to a reservoir.

"Reaching the wetland park, to the east there's a village called Xiaozhang Village. The path I previously took was to the west of Xiaozhang Village.

"Heading west, along the wetland park and reservoir, leads to Liangcheng County, but it's quite a distance."

Lu Xi'an asked, "Can both paths be taken?"

Yao Wei replied, "Yes. Both circumvent the reservoir. Xiaozhang Village has a smaller road; the one to Liangcheng County is a larger road and should be easier."

Lu Xi'an said, "Whether easy or not, it depends on which route gets us out of this fog. We can't judge that, but instinctively, this fog seems peculiar to me and feels related to either the wetland park or the reservoir.

"But it's just a feeling, nothing certain… Let me think…"

He mused for a while.

With the car moving slowly, he had plenty of time to think.

And Yao Wei was very patient, simply waiting quietly for Lu Xi'an to propose his opinion.

After contemplating for a good while, Lu Xi'an spoke, "Let's go east, what do you think?

"Heading east is slightly closer to the route you originally took. We have a bit more of a clue, and it also distances us from the reservoir and wetland park."

"Alright!"

Yao Wei had no objections and nodded in agreement.

Thus, the car slowly reached the fork in the road ahead, and Lu Xi'an turned the steering wheel east.

After driving for quite a while, the fog finally lifted. Lu Xi'an looked at the mountain and forest scenery appearing ahead and smiled, saying to Yao Wei, "Looks like we chose right."

"Mm."

Yao Wei nodded in response.

The road leading to Xiaozhang Village was another mountain road, slightly longer but not steep, and not a winding mountain road either, just somewhat narrow.

For Lu Xi'an, who had traveled all the way from Jianshan City northward, this stretch of road was nothing.

Lu Xi'an pressed the accelerator and shifted gears, increasing the speed a little, remarking to Yao Wei, "Jianshan City must have been quite difficult back then, with no highway at all."

"Mm."

Yao Wei nodded.

They had come from Mengxin City earlier, where they didn't take a highway, but Mengxin City indeed had highways. They had been completely ruined by endless sandstorms and weather erosion, with some sections nearly impassable.

However, Lu Xi'an suspected it wasn't merely sandstorms and weather erosion causing the damage. Over such a long period, there might have been some battles.

For example, artillery or like the likes of him and Yao Wei, Type A Neo-Humans could easily cause serious damage to highways.

Heading east for a stretch, the fog gradually diminished, yet upon reaching a mountain, they had to stop.

The mountain reached across the road, blocking the way. Originally, there was a tunnel through the mountain, but it had inexplicably collapsed, completely buried.

Lu Xi'an and Yao Wei got out of the car, looked at the tunnel, and were momentarily troubled.

"How did it collapse? An earthquake or what?"

Lu Xi'an asked.

Yao Wei shook her head, "I don't know." She hadn't taken this tunnel before either, but had gone through the mountain forest further east.

Lu Xi'an said, "Anyway, I just hope this is an isolated incident.

"We can now go back and take the west route towards Liangcheng County.

"However, the road to Jianshan City is still very long. If there's another tunnel collapse beyond Liangcheng County, what should we do?"

Many roads around here pass directly through mountains, and there's only one of each. If we encounter another collapse, unless we abandon the car, we absolutely can't pass through.

But this car was one of their most important resources, how could they abandon it?

"It won't happen, don't say such things."

Yao Wei quickly interjected.

"Phooey, phooey."

Lu Xi'an spat twice and said, "Alright, I won't say any more nonsense. Let's go back, now we can only take the route through Liangcheng County."

The two got back in the car, turned around, and returned the way they came.

The fog gradually reappeared, it seemed it just hadn't spread to the east, rather than dissipating.

Back at the fork in the road, they headed west again, and Lu Xi'an said, "See if there's a place to refuel ahead?

"If Liangcheng County is also shrouded in this fog, let's find a place to refuel and continue, without stopping elsewhere.

"Or if we can endure further ahead, don't stop at the gas station in Liangcheng County. This place feels too strange, off."

"Hmm."

Yao Wei nodded, took out World Map One, and said, "No way, after passing Liangcheng County, it'll take a long time to reach the next gas station, the car won't last."

"Liangcheng County has two gas stations, and we don't need to enter the city; one is in the south, the other in the north."

"We're right on the way, no need to enter the city."

If they go from here, they would end up on the East Outer Ring of the county, then they could go from the East Outer Ring straight to the North Outer Ring, passing by two gas stations, thus avoiding the risk of entering the city.

For now, there were no other options, so the two had to make a decision and go this way.

Gou was still ahead, responsible for checking the road conditions, and Lu Xi'an drove very slowly.

It was precisely because of this speed that he asked Gou to give a warning fifty meters ahead, otherwise, if the car picked up speed, fifty meters wouldn't be enough for the car to react.

As they continued, they could faintly see guardrails by the roadside. However, those guardrails had collapsed in large sections, with only a few still standing.

Lu Xi'an turned his head to look outside the guardrails, faintly seeing overgrown weeds stretching into the distance and then disappearing into the water.

In the distance, a vast expanse joined with the thick fog, as if steam was rising from the water, enveloping the sky.

"Is this the wetland park?"

Lu Xi'an asked.

Yao Wei glanced at the map and said, "Yes, we are on the wetland park road, the map says there's also a reservoir inside."

Lu Xi'an frowned and said, "Why does the reservoir water look a bit off to me?"

Hearing this, Yao Wei also looked at the reservoir, "Is it because it's a bit green?"

Lu Xi'an nodded, "Yes. It's normal for rivers to have green water, but this green is really strange, the color seems a bit deep..."

Yao Wei said in a deep voice, "Shu's green water..."

Lu Xi'an took a deep breath, "Seems like you think so too. This water isn't as concentrated as Shu's green water, but the color is quite similar..."

Apparently... something is definitely wrong here, very wrong.

Lu Xi'an drove slowly, like Yao Wei, focusing on the surface of the reservoir, just hoping the strange water wouldn't pose any danger.

But what you fear always comes.

Suddenly, there was a turmoil in the water, and a human head suddenly emerged.

That head had no hair at all, eyes entirely red, and the top of the head, cheeks, and chin seemed to be covered with scales, the nose exposed bone, looking grim and terrifying, extremely bizarre.

Upon closer inspection, those scales moved with the waves, floating gently, extremely soft in texture — turned out to be skin peeling and festering, hanging on the face!

That head surged in the water at an incredible speed, actually following Lu Xi'an and Yao Wei forward.

Lu Xi'an's heart trembled, pressed the accelerator and shifted gears, telling the mechanical dog, "Gou, look further, give me a two hundred-meter warning!"

The car speed increased sharply, but unexpectedly, that person kept up, stirring the water waves, and white foam emerged from the green water.

As the person followed the car, his upper body gradually floated up out of the water, with skin hanging like scales, just like on his head.

It was only when his entire upper body emerged from the water that Lu Xi'an noticed there was a big fish beneath him.

No wonder he was so fast, there was an unusually big fish carrying him!

The fish was equally strange, its eyes entirely red, surrounded by the same spots as the fish Lu Xi'an caught in other rivers, but those spots could no longer be called meat lumps, more like tumors.

Apparently, people and fish here were also affected by the D-type X-17 Strain and green water, becoming like this!

The water reservoir's water was indeed green water!

However, the impact on this person and fish was far greater and more terrifying than on Shu, actually mutating them into this form.

And these two mutated monsters clearly saw themselves and Yao Wei as prey!

"Roll down the window!"

Seeing the big fish carrying the freak closer to the shore, Yao Wei decisively exclaimed.

Lu Xi'an immediately complied and rolled down the window on his side of the driver's seat.

The reservoir was on the south, the car heading west, his side was towards the riverbank. After rolling down the window, Yao Wei leaned forward, reaching out with her gun, aiming and shooting outside.

Their faces were incredibly close, and they could each feel the other's breath. But at this moment, neither dared nor would submerge themselves in a romantic atmosphere, fully concentrated on dealing with the crisis.

"Bang!"

The gunshot rang out.

The person on the fish fell into the water with a "plop." The fish followed and dived too.

"Did you hit?"

Lu Xi'an asked while glancing at the reservoir. Beneath the fog, it was hard to see clearly, but there didn't seem to be any blood.

"Don't know."

Yao Wei replied.

But soon, the water surged again, the human head emerged, followed by the body and the fish below.

The person and fish swam to a farther distance from the shore, swiftly swimming forward, following Lu Xi'an and Yao Wei, but seemingly without any immediate intention to attack them.

Yet they hadn't given up, staring with those festering, hanging-skinned red eyes into the car, always carrying that predator's gaze, unchanged.

"I'll get on the roof."

Yao Wei said, then grabbed her gun and got on the car roof. Now the mechanical dog had to focus on watching the road and couldn't go up with her.

On the roof, it was left to Yao Wei herself.